Heart Healthy in 2016

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

Now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays is behind us, we have a New Year to look forward to with so much to do, explore, learn and grow. What is going to be your prime focus this year? Search out a more rewarding job? Save more money? Work Less? Travel More? Socialize more? I don’t make it a practice to dream up a New Years’ Resolution only in a day or two into the New Year I find myself quickly breaking it year after year after year! Whatever your resolutions, plans and commitments are for 2016; the one thing that should take precedence over all is your health, most of us take this for granted until something happens to us or to those we love!

So…. this year I will be advocating getting Heart Healthy for 2016, no resolution involved here, just a conscience commitment to live heart healthy in 2016 and beyond. Heart disease is near and dear to me; having relatives on both sides of the family afflicted with heart disease, I have first-hand seen and experienced the devastation heart disease causes; not a pretty picture at all! We want those that we love (and ourselves) around for the long haul to experience the joys of life.

According to the Canadian Heart and Stroke Foundation every seven minutes someone in Canada dies from heart and stroke; some other sad and sobering statistics are:

· 9 out of 10 Canadians have at least one risk factor for heart disease and stroke.

· One in three Canadian children is overweight or obese setting them on a course for increased risk of these diseases.

· This year there will be an estimate of 70,000 heart attacks, 40, 000 cardiac arrests and 62,000 strokes.

· Heart disease and stroke are two of the three leading causes of death, costing our economy more than $20.9 billion every year.

· 80% of premature heart disease and stroke is preventable.

This information was not meant to scare but rather to educate what is happening in our country and more than likely around the world. In future blog posts we’ll be focusing on 6 simple things to get you heart healthy in 2016:

1. Drink more water: It’s cheap, readily available and will improve overall circulation and reduce the number of sugary colas you drink.